No Guarantees
by Pure Infinity
Summary: Romance is hardly as simple as often portrayed in fiction. That said, living in a universe where destiny and soul mates are things that actually exist should make things easier for everyone involved. On paper, anyway.
**Author's Note:** The basic premise for this fic is blatantly and unashamedly borrowed from Shade O'Killer's fic "What Did You Just Say" (which you should definitely check out, by the way), however it can also be attributed to a _lot_ of soul mate fics I've read over the years - which, admittedly, I'm not a big fan of. Just me playing around with the concept. Originally I was thinking of going full on deconstruction of the genre, but I decided _screw it_. Better writers have already done that, and I was in the mood for writing a fic for one of my guilty pleasure ships.

* * *

 _It is an, as of yet, unexplained phenomena - but it is obviously well documented. In Remnant, all people - whether human or faunus - have the first words their soul mates will one day speak to them scrawled somewhere on their body. This is simply a fact of life. As such, fate plays an active role in the religions and ideologies of us all - even the most skeptical of us have eventually met those most suited for us, after all._

* * *

 **I.**

He hadn't noticed his soul mark when it first appeared - primarily because of its position. It was placed right along his upper back, stretching from shoulder blade to shoulder blade. His sisters had been the firsts to see it during a trip to a nearby lake.

And they had made fun of him relentlessly for it. As had most of his family. That said, everyone agreed that it fit the awkward boy to a T.

* * *

 **II.**

She had always hated her soul mark. Upon its appearance, she had done her best to hide it - however her sister was always good at reading her, and immediately knew something was going on. So she had shown her the mark - and had received a raised eyebrow that contained only disapproval.

She couldn't blame her - it was, after all, a completely ridiculous introduction.

* * *

 **III.**

The auditorium was packed, and he found himself alone.

"Great. Now where am I supposed to find a nice, quirky girl to talk to?"

The wait for the headmaster to begin his speech was somewhat frustrating. He had arrived at the auditorium several minutes earlier, and the speech still hadn't started - despite him having arrived _late_. How irresponsible was this Ozpin fellow?

Oh. Right. Irresponsible enough to let someone with fake transcripts into his school.

He sighed. Off to the side, he noticed Ruby Rose, his new friend, speaking to a girl in all white.

He found himself gasping. She was beautiful - in fact, he could honestly say she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life. White hair, pure unblemished skin. Petite - but not in a bad way. He could only describe her as absolutely perfect."

"... and talk about cute boys, like tall, blond, and scraggly over there!"

Ruby's response to this was promptly filtered out by Jaune. As was Ozpin's speech.

Had she just...? No way. No freaking way. I mean... it had to happen eventually. But he had never expected it to... well, no one really expected it to happen when it happened. But still!

He stared at her all throughout the speech - shock giving way to determination. Well, she had already offered him her first line. Better make sure his was memorable. Of course, she already knew what he was going to say. And the line was etched across her skin. So... she already knew how memorable it was.

Still, as soon as Ozpin's speech finished, he marched over to her, his patented Arc Smile planted across his face, and said, "I'm a natural blond, you know."

She blinked. There was a moment's pause. Her eyes widened. Shock overcame her features. Shock that was soon overcome by anger.

"Do you have any idea how embarrassing that stupid line has been?" She managed to offer, her voice full off such haughty annoyance it was able to disguise her mounting excitement.

"Almost as annoying as yours, probably." Jaune said. And here she flushed, realizing exactly what was pasted on her soul mate's body. Jaune smirked, and offered her his hand. "The name's Jaune. Jaune Arc."

She eyed his hand warily, before sighing and accepting it. "Weiss Schnee. I suppose it is a... pleasure... to finally meet you."

Jaune's smirk widened. "Same here, Snow Angel."

Weiss' teeth clenched together instantly. "Don't call me that."

Off to the side, Ruby seemed ecstatic. "You guys are soulmates? OhmyOum! This is so amazing! I've always wanted to see a first meeting in person!"

At her side, Yang was muttering, seemingly conflicted. "... White Knight, maybe. Yellow Snow? No... Frozen Vomit? Arc Angel? Hmm..."

"Don't think this means anything, though!" Weiss exclaimed. "Personally I don't place much weight on fate or destiny. I decide my own path in life."

Jaune offered her a bashful smile. "Guess I'll just have to win you over then, Snow Angel."

Weiss snorted disdainfully, and walked away. It might have been Jaune's imagination - but he couldn't help but notice a tinge of red on her cheeks.

* * *

 **IV.**

Weiss was... unsure... how to feel about her soul mate. Among the student body of Beacon, he was clearly the weakest. To the degree that it was almost unbelievable that he had made it into Beacon in the first place. He was also something of an idiot - he had no idea of the implication of her name, and he also, she found out when she introduced the two, had never heard of Pyrrha Nikos. He had never even heard of Aura! His grades were dismal across the board.

Every now and then, however, she would notice another side of him.

He had spent a good portion of the first semester being bullied by Cardin Winchester. She had considered intervening - he _was_ her soulmate after all, even if he was annoying - however had decided against it. After all, she had enough problems of her own to deal with, with a child as her team's leader. Admittedly, there might have been some part of her that spitefully thought that he deserved it.

And if that came across as petty, Weiss was fine with that. She had never said she wasn't petty after all. And Jaune Arc was _really_ annoying.

Still, he ended up coming out ahead anyway - she was even impressed with how he ended up handling the situation, slaying an ursa, and threatening Winchester into compliance. Team Cardinal hadn't really bothered anyone since then - effectively cowed by Jaune.

The faux knight's grades had even improved recently - not to the level of RWBY, obviously, or even the rest of his own team - but enough so that he was now reliably winning matches every now and then.

In any case, Weiss didn't have much time to spend thinking about her soul mate - she was far too busy with Blake coming out as a Faunus, and former White Fang member. Not to mention Ruby meeting her own soul mate - who was also, incidentally, a robot.

And then she met Neptune Vasilias.

* * *

 **V.**

Jaune Arc hated Neptune Vasilias. Well... not hated. He resented him. The guy had moved in out of nowhere, offered a bunch of stupid, cheesy lines - many of which that Jaune himself had used with little effect, and suddenly Weiss was swooning at every word out of the smug prick's mouth.

He had even seen Weiss asking him to the dance!

To be fair, Jaune hadn't exactly asked her, there was no indication that he wanted to go with her, and he didn't expect anything from her, nor did he think he implicitly deserved her, or something. But... it had somewhat hurt that his own soul mate hadn't even considered going with him.

Jaune hadn't bothered to stick around for Neptune's response - it was obvious, after all, and he really didn't want it to ruin his night any more. He was late for training with Pyrrha anyway.

* * *

 **VI.**

Weiss marched away in a huff.

That insufferable, blue haired... gah!

Why had she even been smitten with him in the first place? Seriously - she was Weiss Schnee! Who would consider turning _her_ down? An idiot. That's who. Well, if that was how he was going to play, she'd show him! She'd just go with someone else. Like Jaune. There was no way that idiot had secured a date, after all. He was her soul mate, in any case - even if that didn't really mean much to her, she should still probably be going with him anyway.

Decision made, she set off for the roof, where she knew Jaune would be training with Pyrrha.

It was not the familiar sound of weapon meeting weapon that greeted her upon arrival, however. It was voices. She stopped outside the door to the roof, hand reaching for the knob, and prepared to call out a greeting.

"... wondering if you'd like to go to the dance with me."

Weiss's breath caught in her throat. Her hand froze. That was Jaune.

"Shouldn't you be going with Weiss?" Pyrrha said. "She _is_ your soulmate."

Yes, she was. And she was getting rather annoyed. How dare this... this... imbecile ask another girl out?

"She's going with Neptune." Jaune said. Where had he gotten that impression? Well... she had told Ruby she planned on asking him to the dance. She supposed she could have told Jaune. "Not that it matters, really. Us being soul mates doesn't guarantee anything - it doesn't mean Weiss and I _have_ to end up together."

That... had been what Weiss was saying from the beginning. It was true, after all. Just because statistically people almost always ended up with their soul mate people assumed it was a given thing - but it wasn't. That said... hearing the words coming from her soul mate himsel was rather disheartening. Which was confusing.

Why did it hurt so much to find out that Jaune was as uninterested in her as she was in him?

"I guess that makes sense," Pyrrha said. "Alright then - it sounds like fun!"

Weiss found her feet guiding her away from the roof. She had no interest in hearing the end to the exchange.

She felt like an idiot. Why did she assume Jaune would be keen to go with her? She hadn't given any indication she wanted to go with him - heck, until earlier that night, she hadn't even _considered_ going with him.

And he hadn't asked her. That should have been her first clue.

So on the night of the dance, she sat alone, watching as the rest of the students had a good time. While she stewed in her misery. It should have been the best night of her life - she had organized the dance, had been looking forward to it for weeks. Instead it was an encapsulation of her entire life - as usual she was the loneliest one of all. Even her soul mate didn't want anything to do with her.

And then Neptune sat next to her, at the behest of Jaune Arc.

* * *

 **VII.**

The cool air brushed against Jaune's skin as he stepped out onto the roof. The shattered moon displayed itself proudly in the night sky.

It had been three days since the dance, and he and Weiss had been avoiding each other entirely since then.

Jaune sighed, leaning against the balcony. He wouldn't go so far as to say he was heartbroken, or something. Honestly, he didn't know Weiss well enough to be heartbroken. There was such a stigma, however, against not ending up with one's soul mate - it left him with a feeling of wrongness. Like he had failed destiny or something.

He could even admit that there was a part of him that wondered why he and Weiss couldn't have worked out like his parents. They had entered a relationship pretty much immediately upon their meeting - and things had progressed from there. With Jaune and Weiss, however, their relationship had started rocky at best and gotten even worse from there.

He heard the door to the roof open, and someone stepped out onto the roof with him.

"Hey," Weiss said, leaning against the balcony alongside him.

"Hey," Jaune said. He didn't turn towards her, simply kept his gaze on the moon. Weiss seemed content to do the same.

They stood like that in silence for awhile. The silence was suffocating - but it was preferable to speaking. To saying something that could makes their relationship worse than it already was.

It couldn't last, however.

"... How's Pyrrha?" Weiss said, her tone oddly composed. It seemed wrong, considering the circumstances. Too calm.

"She's good. Mission prep has been taking up a lot of our time, but she hasn't struggled a bit." Jaune said. "... How's Neptune?"

He tried not to sound too interested.

"I... haven't really talked to him since the dance," Weiss said. "Things... I thought... I don't know. Never mind."

"Weiss?"

She didn't reply immediately. Instead she stayed silent for several long moments, seemingly collecting her thoughts.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Jaune blinked. "Um, sure, I guess."

"Why did you tell Neptune to sit with me during the dance?" Weiss said. She wasn't leaning on the balcony anymore. Her body had shifted fully, so that she was facing Jaune. Unconsciously, he found himself mirroring her movements.

"Oh. He told you about that?" Jaune said. Weiss rolled her eyes. "Err... I mean..." He shrugged. "You wanted to go with him, didn't you. And I'm your soul mate. Even if we're not... you know... We're still friends. And stuff. Obviously I'm going to get annoyed if he turns you down."

A frown was marring Weiss's face. It was unpleasant to look at, to Jaune turned away.

"Anyway... I should probably get back to my dorm. Ren wanted to go over the geography of the location we're being sent to, and I don't want to keep him waiting."

Jaune forced himself to move towards the door.

"So that's it, then?"

Jaune stopped in his tracks. Weiss's voice was ice cold - holding a level of frustration that Jaune had never heard in it. Which was saying something, as Weiss had spent a good portion of the school year annoyed at him.

"You try to court me, and when things get rough you just... give up, and jump into the arms of another girl? And if that's not enough, you hand me over in a silver platter to another guy!" Weiss's voice had steadily increased in volume throughout the course of her tirade. "Some soul mate you turned out to be!"

Jaune wheeled around at this, shock written on his features. "You... you... what? You wanted to go to the dance with Neptune! I was helping you!"

"I'm a big girl, Arc," Weiss said. "I can handle rejection without you butting your head in."

"I... this is ridiculous." Jaune said, turning back around. "I'm leaving. Keep your insanity away from me."

"Go ahead," Weiss said. "Go crawling back to your floozy of a girlfriend like the coward you are."

Jaune paused mid-step. He once again turned back around. Flabbergasted indignity had been replaced with confusion. "... Are you talking about Pyrrha?"

"That _is_ her name, is it not?" Weiss said with a sneer.

...

"First of all, Pyrrha isn't a floozy," Jaune said. "Second of all, Pyrrha isn't my girlfriend. We're just friends."

Weiss blinked. "You went to the dance with her!"

"... As friends."

"... Oh." The righteous anger Weiss had been sporting seemed to melt away. A red tinge flew up to her cheeks.

For the first time in the conversation, Weiss was the one avoiding Jaune's gaze, and not the other way around. Silence once again overtook them.

Weiss mumbled something indistinct.

"What was that?" Jaune asked.

Weiss covered her mouth with her fist, and cleared her throat lightly. "I'm... sorry." She said. "I feel that I may have treated you somewhat unfairly, and that I made assumptions about your character without actually getting to know you."

"Ah, well," Jaune said. "I'm probably mostly to blame for that. I know I can be a bit annoying. And awkward. And st-"

"I would _also_ like to apologize for my... hostility... throughout this conversation," Weiss said. "I'm not exactly _used_ to..." Weiss trailed off into a mumble. Jaune tilted his head, and Weiss coughed. "That is to say, I'm not exactly used to being the one doing the courting, rather than the other way around."

Oh.

Wait-

"What."

"From here, I'm hoping we could maybe... start over," Weiss whispered. She curtsied, bowing her head the slightest amount, before raising it just as quickly. She was in motion within a moment. Her lips met his cheek.

Jaune dot exe not found.

Rebooting.

By the time he had regained focus, Weiss had brushed past him, and the door to the roof had closed with a soft _click_ behind her.

"What."

* * *

 **Author's Note:** So yeah, a lot of this fic is based around me trying to make Jaune and Weiss _work_ romantically. In the show, this is pretty much impossible. Even if it were possible, it wouldn't be a healthy relationship by any stretch of the imagination. Their relationship isn't just unrequited - they're on complete opposite ends of the spectrum. Jaune was _far_ too into Weiss, and Weiss clearly disliked him. Partly because she doesn't want someone pursuing her for her name - at least that's the reason presented in the show - but mostly, I think, because Jaune just doesn't come off as a serious romantic contender in her mind. She sees him as beneath him - and he doesn't really help, seeing her as far above him, regardless of what his paper thin confidence might imply.

Thus, in order to make a romance between them work, in my mind, I had to adjust that inequality of their opinions in this fic. Here, Jaune is much less relentless in his "courtship". They both have their expectations of one another - Jaune because of assumptions made due to their status as soul mates, and Weiss because of her first impressions of him. Both of their expectations of one another crumble throughout the course of the fic, allowing for the possibility of romance by the end. I didn't want to pull the trigger and outright say they would end up in a relationship after this, but it's a reasonable assumption to make.

In any case, I'm not all that comfortable writing pure romance stories - but I wanted to try my hand at one, just for the hell of it. The ending kind of fell flat in my mind, but whatever. I can't be bothered to rework it. This wasn't really a serious attempt on my part, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway. Thanks for reading.


End file.
